My Roady wagon has a new friend. We now have two big bulbous Buicks at the Massey house

My Roady wagon has a new friend. We now have two big bulbous Buicks at the Massey house.   Bought this 2012 Enclave Premium over the weekend.  Pretty neat, but not sure it's a real "Buick".   I do like that the grill is mounted to the hood like on the Roadmaster.   Feels familier!

The Enclave is really loaded, and I don't know half of what it does or how to work it!  Ha!  It has every option except running boards and AWD (not needed in Texas), and even has GPS and rear roof DVD (my kids love it), a power sunroof with a second vista roof over the second row, and the interior is full of black leather, and a surprising amount of wood and chrome trim.  I highly doubt it'll ever be a classic like our Roadmasters are, but it makes a nice family car and commuter for my wife and looks nice next to my Roadmaster wagon in the garage.   The more Buick tri-shields I have to clean, the happier I am.  

I sold my trusty 2001 GMC Yukon Denali to buy this Enclave.   I doubt the Enclave will be nearly as reliable as that Denali was, but at 170K miles it was finally getting a little ratty around the edges.   My wife wanted something with three rows again, but used Yukon prices have gone totally insane, and besides she wanted something with better mileage too so she could have it for her commuter, so moved to this Enclave.

My Roady wagon is not going anywhere, but I mainly use it as a weekend fun toy these days.  I want to keep it forever.

Will miss my big Yukon, but in doing this I've now inherited Misty's "old" 2008 TrailBlazer to use as my commuter, so we both kinda got new vehicles.   The TrailBlazer is a little boring but it's reliable (only 62K miles still)...and my only real issues is I have a feeling I'll have to LOOK for my vehicle in the work parking lot now!   I feel so...normal.     Oh, I didn't plan it but the TrailBlazer and Enclave are the exact same color brown....will save money on touch-up paint!

New toys.   Take Care All!

-Texas Mike








I really like the painted-on pinstripes


And here was my view this morning, with my new daily-driver TrailBlazer and our new Enclave.   Same color brown!  Ha!

Like it Mike! With all the buying and selling of cars that you do, it's a good idea to keep the Mrs. happy.

The garage looks pretty empty, still have the 78 wagon?

Tom

silverfox103 wrote:

Like it Mike!  With all the buying and selling of cars that you do, it's a good idea to keep the Mrs. happy.

The garage looks pretty empty, still have the 78 wagon?

Tom

Sure do, and she's UGLY right now! Wood is stripped off and dash is apart. Yikes!

Nice! I leased the not-nearly-as-ritzy Chevrolet version for a couple years. MUCH better gas mileage than a Tahoe, and 95% of the cargo space. You may not be aware, but the third seat row comes out *really* easy, in case you need serious cargo room. Two bolts, slide out, done.

Your sons square body is a little scary looking without the wood,yikes indeed!

Andebe wrote:

Your sons square body is a little scary looking without the wood,yikes indeed!

Yep it's UGLY right now. We'll make it pretty again!

-Mike

Aaannnd....back to the dealer.   Bought on Friday evening with 50,200 miles and just dropped back off for service with 50,400 miles.   Ha.    Nothing horrible, the dealer installed new front struts on the Enclave right before we bought it, but didn't do the rear shocks, and should have.   Also, a few times when backing up while turning to full-lock, we heard/felt a thunk in the steering.   I looked last night and the right front sway bar link has a tear in the boot, where it mounts to the new strut.   I'm guessing that got torn when they did the struts, and am hoping that's the thunk.   Other than turning to full-lock it steers and handles fine.  SO we'll see.    Dealer ordered new shocks and will check the front, and put me in a loaner.   And so it begins...  

Normal to go through struts after 50K miles? At least you are getting the little things looked at now!

Looks like a nice ride too! Got any interior shots?

I'm not griping, the dealer was very nice and gave me zero issues about replacing the rear shocks. They also put me in an Infiniti SUV, and I was expecting a VW or something. Starting off with brand new shocks and struts is OK with me.

Here's some interior pics. We looked at the Chevy Traverse and the GMC Acadia models too, which mechanically are the same, and the Buick won hands-down. I like the exterior styling of the Buick OK but love the wood, chrome and leather interior. And of course I'm a Buick guy!

Nice!! I like the wood too! Good choice

brokecello wrote:

Nice!!  I like the wood too!  Good choice

I still like my Roadmaster a lot better, but telling myself this is a distant relative.... Damn kids...

They're pretty nice, I've spent a little time in and around the '13+ models at the dealership I'm working at, the Acadia Denalis are really nice too, but so is anything with the Denali name. They ride really nice and the 3.6 has plenty of power. Most of the ones I see are AWD, but we need it a couple months out of the year.

stewzer55 wrote:

They're pretty nice, I've spent a little time in and around the '13+ models at the dealership I'm working at, the Acadia Denalis are really nice too, but so is anything with the Denali name. They ride really nice and the 3.6 has plenty of power.  Most of the ones I see are AWD, but we need it a couple months out of the year.

I like the wood trim on the 2013+ models, and the way it sweeps up and around the dashboard. The stereo and climate controls looks better on the newer models as well, but I bought what was in my budget, and hope we'll like it....once it gets back home.

-Mike

steering wheel would be a nice upgrade for a wagon,. painted to match,.

Something goofy, these Enclaves don't have glove compartment or footwell lights....things even my '81 Chevy Citation has. Nice work GM.

My Jetta has footwell lights you can adjust and stay on if you like.

Those things are crazy expensive new……
Nice ride!

I didn't notice the differences in the dash at first. I delivered an ex-loaner 2016 yesterday, FWD, cloth seats but still very nice.